2017 Formula 1 - The next generation

Only worser :confounded:

The fundamental idea behind the changes was to create more mechanical grip and make the cars less reliant on aero grip. The principle was allow a bigger diffuser as the air works in a more sympathetic way creating less turbulence which allows the car behind to follow closer. Yet still have in corner grip levels to die for.
Sadly, too many vested interests watered down the original ideas and created a hybrid monster of complicated aero, wide tyres and large diffusers. They will look a good deal meaner but, as weā€™ve seen, visually fussy.
Allied to this is the old issue of turbulence from the car in front. Because theyā€™ve allowed all the extra body mounted bits and pieces, the aero wake will be such that cars wonā€™t be able to get close enough to pass because they will lose aero grip.

Well done F1. Foot-bullet interface achievedā€¦AGAIN !

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The one on the Ferrari looks like one of those bead fly stopper curtains youā€™d hang in your kitchen doorway :+1:

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Luckily, Aero Sensor Rakes are only used in testing.

Didnā€™t Scalextric have some sort of flipper that you could use on the opponents car? About time that was introduced in to F1

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McLaren chief Eric Boullier hopes the change of rules will help his team return to challenging at the front end of the grid. (Planet F1)

I think someoneā€™s dreaming of a White Christmas alreadyā€¦ lolā€¦

Considering Honda have fucked up the design of the Oil Tank. Basic stuff which an engineering company like Honda should be getting right. Another year of excuses, me thinks.

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So all the teams need do is design a car that will be very fast in qualifying and not break down. Race speed will be irrelevant.

Quite lengthy, video discussion of most cars.

https://peterwindsor.com/2017/02/26/the-new-cars-arrive/

The idea that more mechanical grip is likely to lead to more overtaking is a load of old bollox and keeps being repeated.
No analysis or other test has ever shown it to have any merit, though loads of people both inside and outside the sport have been saying it for years.

The most blatant evidence is a wet race. Yes, wet tyres have an aero effect but not a dominant one, the main difference is a HUGE loss of mechanical grip. If the old chestnut had any merit wet races would very boring indeed with no hope of overtaking.

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Iā€™ve no data to back things up, but Iā€™d have thought making the car more unstable / on more of a knife edge would make for better racing. More mistakes and better differentiates the good drivers from the bad.

https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16865061_2331426820328957_6928867511980674821_n.jpg?oh=1c1b3c039ea8a5242821921787fb7367&oe=59420269

https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/17098600_1498268486882290_7458618340955371571_n.jpg?oh=1f5791ec54240680144ce3b187ce59d5&oe=59718804

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I am not sure whether I posted my comments here or somewhere else w.r.t. the term mechanical grip.

A tire provides grip through 2 mechanisms, firstly through moulding to the tarmac surface and secondly through a chemical interaction between the tire and the tarmac. In the first case the tire moulds to the tarmac right down to a molecular level (envisage a fractal pattern to see how the tarmac and the tire can do this at ever smaller distances).

When the car sits on the track its mass pushes the tire into the track, which increases the the ability to grip the track vs a tire just sitting there on its own. Once the car starts moving the inertial loads and aero loads increase the vertical force on the tires and increase the ability to grip the track.

So I am not clear what anyone means by mechanical grip as it is a combination of things that change the tires ability to grip the tarmac.

Having said all that, I agree with what Frank has said, w.r.t the wet reducing the available grip due to taking away the ability of the tire to create chemical bonds with the track surface and making it much more difficult for the tire to mould to the track at a micro level as the water molecules are in the way .

Yes you have mentioned it before Ian but in my haste to give a response earlier, I couldnā€™t recall what you had said. My choice of technical language was inaccurate.
The argument still stands though, that this was the Working Groupā€™s intention. As Frank has said in the past, they get these things wrong due to self-interest, lack of understanding and sheer pig-headedness.

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Terry,

My comments were not meant to suggest that I disagreed with what you or Frank said (I agree with both of you).

Merely trying to clarify some terms that a lot of people in F1 get wrong.

Ian

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So, so far weā€™re all praying to God that ferrariā€™s pace is genuine / Merc are not sandbagging

Last year, IIRC, Merc were showing the same form as they are now: super reliable, level pegging with ferrari but not blitzing ā€¦ and then on the last day or thereabouts, Rosberg did a run with astonshingly low (comparative to the other teams) levels of tyre degredation / much faster stint time. His first lap on his long run was a faster than anyone else managed all through the test on mediums

A tenner says that before the Barca test is done, thereā€™s been one stint where they show a wee bit of their hand again.

Another tenner says that every single interview with Fernando will be worth watching. Such a shame it loks like, once again, heā€™ll not be at the sharp end of the field.

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Remind me again why Alonso returned to Mac? :thinking:

Biding his time until heā€™s in a position to go to Mercedes ?

Alonso, or Flav or both, have the gift of changing team at the wrong time.

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Cos he (a) fell out with Mattiacci and (b) cos he figured that they would never put in place a team which could beat Mercedes.

He gambled that MacHonda had a better chance of providing a WDC, and while that part has gone utterly FUBAR, his assessment of Ferrari was correct IMHO. Oh, and having burned his bridges at Ferrari he really had very few options.

Oz: I hope youā€™re right as itā€™s nuts that the best driver has a shitbox, but if they werenā€™t gonna take him for 17, why would they tale him for 18? :-/

Fred and Vettel are - thus far - out of contract in 18 and Iā€™d wager theyā€™re more interested in Vettel than Fred. OTOH, I can see Hamilton having a crack at Ferrari some time soon, espescially if he were headed for a fourth WDC with Mercedes.